12 questions to help you find the right
rooflight supplier for your project

If you’re looking to encourage abundant natural light into your new living spaces with the aid of a flat roof skylight, we can help provide you with the key questions you need answers to in order to find the right rooflight supplier.

1. Are your rooflights designed and manufactured in-house?

The right rooflight supplier doesn’t just supply rooflights, they design and manufacture them on-site at their own premises. Those with in-house rooflight design experience tend to be the specialists in their field and give you the flexibility to liaise and secure a rooflight design befitting your bespoke requirements.

2. What glass do you specify for your rooflights?

Ideally, you’ll want them to use toughened glass for the external panes of their skylights, with laminated glazing used for the internal panes. This provides outstanding levels of safety, ensuring the glass doesn’t fragment and fall into interiors below in the event of a break.

3. How do you ensure the thermal efficiency of your rooflights?

In order to achieve the lowest overall U-values, you’ll want your rooflight manufacturer to use polyamide insulating sections which act as thermal breaks. This is a design feature that we utilise at Sunsquare and helps to achieve exceptional thermal efficiency. Our technical team can also accurately calculate the U-value of every rooflight we manufacture for our clients.

4. Why is an upstand so important for my rooflight?

Upstands play a key role in ensuring your new skylight fits and fits well. They are the frames that a skylight sits on, creating enough height from the roof surface and enough pitch for any surface water to run off the skylight.

5. How easy is your installation process?

Most reputable rooflight suppliers will have a detailed installation process and should be able to walk you through the process. At Sunsquare, we have a dedicated installation team who install products that require glazing on site, such as multi-pane rooflights and more bespoke rooflight projects. As there are many other clients that prefer to fit their own Sunsquare rooflight, we’ve gone to great lengths to design our products to be easy to install. As well as providing optional upstands, we provide bedding tape that goes around the external face of the upstand, creating a supremely clean finish.

6. How much weight can the rooflight glass safely handle?

For walk-on rooflights, this is a particularly important question. Your rooflight supplier should be able to provide the UK guidelines for uniform distributed and concentrated loads for walk-on specifications and be able to prove that their glass withstands and surpasses those standards. At Sunsquare, all our walk-on skylights are independently tested and accredited by structural engineers, providing complete peace of mind.

7. What glazing and frame specifications are available?

The very best rooflight manufacturers and suppliers will be able to offer glazing and frame finishes to meet the bespoke needs of any project. For instance, the skylight should be able to be glazed with solar control or obscured glazing if necessary and clients should be able to choose an external frame colour for their skylight that complements the overall aesthetic of the property.

8. How can you be sure of the safety of my opening rooflight?

Opening rooflights are an increasingly popular option, particularly with homeowners looking to create roof access point for a new, stunning roof terrace. However, it’s important that your rooflight supplier carefully considers the safety implications of opening skylights. With such electrically controlled units you should ensure that it is fitted with safety features, notably proximity detectors, soft-close mechanisms and current override functionality.

9. Does your business work to robust quality management protocols?

Well-established rooflight manufacturers will adhere to strict quality management systems in order to ensure their design and manufacture processes are carried out to the letter. At Sunsquare, we achieved certification against both ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 14001: 2015, two years ahead of the 2018 deadline.

10. Do you hold a membership for the National Association of Rooflight Manufacturers (NARM)?

NARM is an industry body featuring all of the country’s most established rooflight manufacturers who work together to develop best practice in the provision of natural light in homes and commercial environments. Sunsquare is proud to be a full NARM member and is currently working with the body to develop new rooflight safety standards for laminated inner panes.

11. Are you Kitemarked?

We know for a fact that Sunsquare is the only UK-based rooflight manufacturer that can honestly answer yes to this. We comfortably surpassed the BSI’s Kitemark standards, setting a new benchmark for flat roof skylights for extreme wind loading, weather tightness and air permeability.

12. How soon can I receive my rooflight?

If time is of the essence, you want to be able to purchase from a rooflight supplier that works as fast as you. At Sunsquare, we have a great range of stock-size rooflights that are perfect for most standard installations and can be delivered within three to five working days from the date of order through our online shop.

If you’re interested in any Sunsquare skylights or you’d like to know more about our processes, please don’t hesitate to call us today on 01284 846584 or drop us a line using our online contact form.